Last-minute Valentine's Day gift ideas

Sunday

You don't have much time but you still have a chance to show the person you love how much you care with these quick tips.

If you’re reading this, it’s probably for one of two reasons:

1.) It’s one day until Valentine’s Day, and you still haven’t planned anything romantic for your husband/wife/significant other/boyfriend/girlfriend/beloved/current crush/favorite person in the whole world (not to put a label on it).

2.) You’re thinking, “Wait, Valentine’s Day is tomorrow? How did that happen? Why isn’t Congress doing something about it?”

Either way, you need help. And you don’t have much time. There’s nothing wrong with having flowers delivered to someone’s desk at work or having a bouquet of balloons tied to the doorknob.

But there are other things you can do with just a small commitment of time that will make for a more memorable Valentine’s Day — things that say, “I care, I’ve been paying attention and I’ve been thinking about you.”

Here are five things you can pull off quickly to make this the Best Valentine’s Day in the history of our species.

Do something

Everyone has household tasks they hate to do: ironing, cleaning the bathroom, scouring burnt-on goop from the inside of the microwave oven.

So surprise your sweetheart by taking care of that annoying household chore. Do it when he/she isn’t home and see how long it takes him/her to notice that the chore is already done. Then accept the waves of gratitude.

Doesn’t sound romantic? Look at it this way: You’re giving the person you love the gift of time. You’re reducing his/her stress because that’s one less disgusting job that needs to be done. You’re showing, rather than saying, that you’re paying attention to his/her wants and desires (i.e., the desire to NOT have to scrub the bathtub).

Do something nice

Score points with the person you love by doing something nice for someone he or she loves.

Start with his or her family. Maybe you have a grandmother-in-law whose snow needs shoveling, or a future father-in-law who needs a bowling buddy. A little bit of your time showing you’re interested in your beloved’s family shows you plan to be around for a while.

If you don’t have his or her family handy, a donation of money or time to your beloved’s favorite cause works. If you’re the guy who helps out at the animal shelter or the girlfriend who’s helping find a cure for a disease, that’s the sort of thing that’s remembered for the long term.

Do something you hate

No matter how much you have in common with whomever you’re being romantic, you probably sometimes disagree over what constitutes a good time.

Maybe he/she likes croquet and you like badminton. Maybe he/she prefers concerts and you prefer ballgames. Maybe he/she enjoys watching British actors with three names star in film adaptations of Jane Austen books, and you are anxiously awaiting the director’s cut of “Sharktopus” … on Blu-Ray … with a commentary track by star Eric Roberts … an Oscar nominee, incidentally, for 1985’s “Runaway Train.”

The point is to treat your beloved to something you know he/she enjoys. And then be a good sport — don’t whine or complain about being bored. It’s two hours of your time. But one of these days, the favor will be returned.

Do something with a beat

Years ago, making a “mix tape” was really labor intensive. You had to have a dual audio cassette player or a CD/cassette combo with dubbing capabilities. Then you had to find recordings of all the songs on cassette or compact disc. Then, one-by-one, you had to record each song.

Thank goodness we live in 2011, with iTunes and recordable compact discs and Sharpie pens for writing on the label. You can simply pick songs from your online library of music and burn the set to a disc. And the whole process takes just a few minutes.

And then your beloved can load the disc into iTunes, download the new songs into his/her digital music player, and then you can each put an ear bud into one ear and slow dance the night away.

Do something from the heart

You don’t need to be Shakespeare to write something memorable. You just have to be brave enough to say what you feel.

Instead of buying a greeting card with a message printed inside, buy a blank one. Take pen in hand and write what you feel about the person you love.

Intimidated? Don’t be. Your own words aren’t nearly as clumsy as you think. In fact, they’ll flow if you simply write down what you feel about the most important person in your life. And your own words will mean much more than something some anonymous greeting card writer who got paid to scribble.